The Silent Fox
by StrongLikeBunny
Summary: Uzumaki Naruko hasn't spoken a word to anyone for years, due to something that happened to her when she was young, and another tragedy after graduating from the ninja academy. Now she starts her journey as a ninja. Amongst a village that wants her gone, and peers that hate her, will she survive? No definite pairings, yet. Saku/Sasu bashing, Subject to change. I own nothing Fem!Naru
1. Prologue

**AN: Hello everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. This is my first fanfic so be gentle with it, please.**

**BEWARE, this chapter has a brief scene of abuse and rape, nothing too explicit, but if this offends you, do not read this story. This is rated M for a reason. You've been warned.**

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PROLOGUE

Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Normally a quiet and peaceful place to live. But not tonight, for tonight, a mob was chasing a small, lone figure through the city streets.

"Monster!"

"Demon!"

"Why won't you just die!?"

The cries of the mob behind her assaulted the small figure's ears as she made her way through the village. She hated when the villagers were this drunk. It usually meant that the beatings were worse than usual, and they were pretty bad to begin with.

_Maybe if I cut through there, I can get away without too much pain, _she thought, looking at an alley to the left. A kunai flew past her face, and she grew pale. _Ninja? Crap, this won't turn out well. _Turning into the alley, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her luck got worse, however, when she found that the alley she chose was a dead end. She was backed into a corner, with no way out._  
_

"There's the Demon!" shouted someone behind her, and the mob of people closed in on their victim.

The first blow came as a slight surprise, as the girl had her eyes closed in preparation. It was a punch to the stomach, followed by a knee to the face, knocking her onto the ground. For the next hour, she endured kicks, stomps, a broken leg, four shattered ribs, and multiple stab wounds all over her body. She cried, she begged, she pleaded for them to stop, but none of them listened When they were finished beating her to a pulp, one of the shinobi picked her up and threw her against the wall. She was barely conscious, but it was enough to feel her clothes being torn off, and she began to feebly struggle against the ninja. All she received for her efforts was a slap to the face and a "Shut up, bitch!" with her arms pinned to the wall above her.

It hurt, worse than anything the villagers had previously done to her, like she was being torn apart from the inside, out. She wanted it to stop. She wanted to die, because anything had to be better than this utter pain she was had no idea how long it lasted, it felt like an eternity, but eventually the shinobi stood to leave, spitting at her as he walked away.

That was the sixth birthday of Uzumaki Naruko, and the last time she ever spoke a word to anyone.

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**AN: Please leave a review and tell me what you think, even if it's bad. I'm a big boy, I can take it.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: I'm back with the next chapter of The Silent Fox.**

**I want to send a thank you to the reviewer Mr. Cuddles needs hugs. I'm going to shoot for at least fifteen-hundred words a chapter, as the length of the last chapter was the number one issue he brought up. Thanks for reviewing, now on to the chapter.**

**WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH**

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**CHAPTER 1**

Umino Iruka ran through the trees in the forest surrounding the Village, cursing his student, Naruko, under his breath. He just couldn't understand it. What in the hell was she thinking, pulling off a stunt like this?

_Flashback_

_Iruka and his friend, Mizuki, were walking along the main road in Konohagakure when they came upon a large crowd of shinobi gathering and screaming about something. Worried that something might have happened, Iruka broke out into a run towards them. As he got closer, he could hear the angry shouts clearly._

_"We should have killed her when we had the chance! Now the whole village could be in danger!" the Leader of the Hyuuga Clan, __Hyuuga _Hiashi, yelled, receiving mutterings of approval.

_"Stay calm," Iruka heard the Third Hokage say, his deep voice carrying throughout the crowd, despite its low volume. "We must not act rashly. I'm sure there is an explanation-"_

_"An explanation!? That demon has stolen the forbidden scroll! I say we execute her as soon as she is brought back to prevent this from ever happening again!" interrupted one of the council members, gaining more mutterings of approval._

_"Hokage-sama!" asked Iruka as he made his way over to Sarutobi. "What's going on? What happened?"_

_"It seems as though young Naruko-kun snuck into the Tower and taken the forbidden scroll and left the village."_

_"WHAT!? Do you know which way she went?"_

_"She was seen going east into the forest-"_

_Iruka stopped listening and shot off in the direction that the Hokage mentioned, intent on finding out what the hell his student was thinking._

_End Flashback_

Iruka shook himself out of his thoughts as he came upon where Naruko was waiting next to what appeared to be an abandoned shedin a small clearing. She wore her usual outfit, black sandals, dark grey shirt and pants, with a black jacket with the hood up, as she always wore it. She seemed to be reading through the scroll, and was more excited than he had ever seen her. Usually in class, she was quiet and reserved, but now she was bouncing upmand down in place, a huge grin on her usually somber face.

Iruka jumped down from his tree and she noticed immediately, turning her head to look at him. She jumped up and walked quickly toward him. When she came close enough, she held out the scroll for him to take.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking, Naruko-kun!? Why would you steal the Forbidden Scroll? Its _Forbidden_ for a reason!" She gestured to his headband and then to herself, then pointed at the scroll. After a few seconds, he asked, confused, "You thought this would pass you? Stealing a scroll?" She shook her head, confusing him further . Than, opening the scroll, she pointed at the first jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, then tapped her temple, then pointed at his headband. Iruka suddenly understood. "Who told you _that_?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a large shuriken flew towards them. Hearing it coming, Naruko tackled Iruka out of its path, nearly getting decapitated in the process.

Getting to their feet, they faced the direction the attack came from, only to come face to face with-

"MIZUKI?"

Mizuki was crouching on a tree branch, two more large shuriken on his back. He had a grin on his face, but it wasn't friendly in the least.

"Iruka-san, fancy seeing you here. Unfortunately for you, your in my way. You see, my master wants that scroll, and he doesn't take kindly to failure. Head it and the beast over, and I'll let you live. "Having been called worse, Naruko simply shrugged it off and held tighter to the scroll.

"_No_ Mizuki, I can't let you do that. If you want the scroll, you're going to have to go through me." As soon he finished speaking, Mizuki through several kunai and shuriken at Iruka, who managed to dodge most of them, but one kunai got lodged into his leg, causing him to stumble back into the shed.

"I have to say, Iruka, I thought better of you." Mizuki taunted. "Protecting the very thing that killed your parents ... they must be rolling around in their graves right now at the very thought. Just what would your mother say?"

This confused Naruko. How could she have killed Iruka-sensei's parents? She would remember if she killed someone, wouldn't she?

"You mean you don't know?" asked Mizuki, truthfully shocked at this information. "You don't know the reason why your not wanted?" he started grinning, enjoying the torment and confusion showing on her face. "The reason everyone hates you? The reason you are no better then a rabid dog that needs to be put down?" he was thoroughly enjoying this, his grin widening at every question.

"NO Mizuki!" shouted Iruka, trying to stop him. "It's _forbidden_!"

"She should at least know why, shouldn't you, _Naruko-kun_? You see, when the Kyuubi attacked Konohagakure, the Fourth Hokage didn't kill it. The third made a law preventing us from speaking of it."

"_Stop it ,Mizuki_!"

"The Fourth had to seal it away, trapping it in human form so that it couldn't destroy the village. You see, Naruko, the beast would be hated, ridiculed,_abused_ because of what it was."

Naruko's eyes widened in realization.

"Yes, so you've realized, _you are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox_!" Sensing an opening, Mizuki threw one of his large shuriken at the defenseless academy student. She closed her eyes waiting for the pain that never appeared. Opening her eyes, she saw Iruka-sensei in front of her, the point of the shuriken protruding from his chest.

Looking at his student, he saw the question burning in her eyes: _Why?_

"I did it ... because ... you're not a beast ... I used to believe ... that you were just a demon ... a reincarnation on the Fox ... but now ... after getting to know you ... I know that that isn't true," he turned his head and started coughing up some blood.

"He's lying! He doesn't believe that, he just doesn't want younto take the scroll!" shouted Mizuki. Naruko looked back at Iruka, anger and sadness filling her eyes.

"Naruko ... please ... " Naruko backed away from him, then turned and ran off into the woods, taking the scroll.

Mizuki laughed. "Now she's going to your the scroll to destroy your precious village, and there's noth-" he was cut-off when Iruka yanked out the shuriken from his back, and threw it at Miuki, nearly hitting him.

* * *

_Meanwhile,_

Naruko sat against a tree, holding tightly to the scroll. Was what Mizuki said true? Is that really all Iruka wanted, the scroll? Tears started to fall from her eyes ss she silently sobbed. She looked back at the clearing, and saw Iruka-sensei falling to the ground, the shuriken no longer in his back. She listened closely, wanting to know if what Mizuki said was true.

"Pathetic. You're still going to defend that creature? You know that it can't resist using the power in that scroll. It's in the nature of beasts to try to gain power by any means necessary."

"Yeah, you're right ..." At this, Naruko looked down and clenched her fists. _Even Iruka-sensei doesn't want me around._ "That is how _beast _is." Naruko's head snapped up. _D-does that mean ..._**_  
_**

"But Naruko isn't like that. She hates the village ... but she doesn't let that hatred ... rule her life. She works hard ... and she is one of my best students ... even _if _she can't create a clone. She isn't the Fox ... she is a ninja of Konoha."

Mizuki stared at him for a minute. "I was going to save you for after I had the scroll, but I think I'll just kill you now and be done with it." He took his remaining shuriken and launched it at the chunin leaning against the shed. Naruko then decided to do one of the stupidest things she had ever done.

Both chunin were dumbfounded as, seemingly out of nowhere, Naruko jumped in front of Iruka, stopping the shuriken with the scroll. Throwing it down, she put her hands together in a cross and used the only jutsu she had time to learn.

As the smoke cleared, Mizuki found himself surrounded by hundreds of clones, and none of them were illusions. Iruka looked to where the scroll fell, open a bit, and looked at the first Jutsu listed. _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?! But that's a B-ranked Jutsu!_

All at once, the clones charged the chunin and, for the next hour, kept beating him until he was within an inch of his life.

As the clones dispelled, Naruko made her way over to where Iruka was sitting. She looked worriedly at the growing pool of blood under him, wondering if there was anything she could do.

"... Naruko ..." She looked to his face. "Close your eyes." She looked at him like he was crazy. "Just do it." Reluctantly, she did as he asked, and felt something being placed on her forehead. "Okay, open your eyes," he said, and she noticed that he was missing his headband. Realization dawned on her and her hand shot up to feel her forehead and, sure enough, there it was. "Congratulations ... you passed," he turned and coughed up a lot more blood. Naruko was worried, but he waved her off. "Listen to me, Naruko." She nodded.

"You're going to be ... a great ninja one day ... Naruko. You're going to do ... great things ... wonderfull things ..." He coughed some more, causing Naruko to start tugging on his sleeve, silently begging him to get help.

He chuckled dryly, wincing as it hurt his wound. "No ... Naruko ... I don't think ... anyone can help me now. It's too late for me." Tears were freely falling down her face at this. "Just promise me something ... Naruko." She nodded. "Promise me, no matter what ... that you won't ... give up ... that you'll always ... push on ... promise me." She nodded more, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good ... good ..." he took one last shuddering breath, and closed his eyes for the last time.

And that's how ANBU found them, with Naruko cradling her dead sensei, nodding nonstop, silently sobbing.

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**AN: Thank you for reading please leave a review and the next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow, if I'm lucky.**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm back. Thank you to those who have read this story, it means a lot. I know I'm a crappy writer, so I appreciate you sticking with me even _this _long. Anyway, back to the story.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

Iruka-sensei's funeral was a quiet affair, with only several chunin, the Hokage, and a few of his students attending. It started to rain about halfway through, but Naruko didn't care. She didn't notice when everyone left, nor did she notice the glares sent her way by Iruka-sensei's friends, who held her responsible for his death. All she could do was stand there, tears falling down her face as she stared at the marker on his grave.

_It's all my fault. If only I hadn't frozen up, or if I didn't steal the stupid scroll in the first place, he would still be alive._ She stood there for hours, just staring, before finally turning and walking away. She aimlessly walked through the streets, not even paying attention to where she was, until she came upon Ramen Ichiraku. Fresh tears formed in her eyes as she walked in and took her usual seat. When spotted by Ayame, she was immediately pulled into a hug by the older girl, and stayed there as she tried to comfort Naruko. Pulling back, she gave Naruko a bowl of ramen on the house. This brought a small smile to Naruko's face, as Ayame was one of the only people that didn't hate her, and she was the one who found Naruko in the alley and nursed her back to health, physically at least. Naruko still couldn't get to close to men, even Ayame's father, teaching, without

Eventually, she got up to leave and made her way back to her apartment. It was a bit run-down, and the landlord refused to help repair it, as the only reason she was there was because Hokage-sama forced him to let her live here after she was kicked out of the orphanage that she used to live in. The wall were cracked, and had a few holes here and there, the door got stuck, as well ans the lock, and there was no glass in the windows, just some wood covering them, but it was home for her.

She lay on her bed, not really feeling up to anything and slightly sick to her stomach. She stare at the ceiling, thinking of all of the times she was with Iruka-sensei. He was like a big brother to her, and he was the only boy she could hug without a panic attack.

She just lay there, unable to cry anymore. She lay there, thinking, for hours, before setting her alarm to wake her. After all, tomorrow the new genins would be assigned there teams, and she had a promise to keep.

* * *

When she arrived at the class, the only other people there were Nara Shikamaru and the new chunin sensei that had volunteered for the job. Shikamari was at his usual place near the back, sleeping, and the chunin was sitting with his feet up on the desk, waiting. Naruko took her usual seat in the back, furthest from the door, and sat with her hood up.

Soon, people started to show up. First was Uchiha Sasuke, the 'Rookie of the Year' and who she thought needed a different haircut, as his current one looked like a duck's ass. He sat in his seat up front and to the left.

Next was Akimichi Choji, Shikamaru's best friend, and had his usual back of chips he was munching on. He took a seat next to Shikamaru.

Then Hyuuga Hinata arrived, closely followed by Inuzuka Kiba with his companion, Akamaru, in his jacket, asleep. Hinata sat down a couple of seats in front of her and Kiba sat next to her, immediately starting to flirt with Hinata, causing her to blush fiercely. Hinata had had a crush on Kiba since he saved her from some bullies a couple of years back, and Kiba had a crush on her, so no one knew why they weren't yet together.

The next two to arrive were Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. This one was entertaining to watch, as there were arguing the whole time about who got there first, each claiming to have done it. Everyone rolled their eyes at the display, and Naruko tried to ignore the two. She hated fan-girls. To her, it just made people think that all girls were weak, and she hated that.

Aburame Shino came after, calmly walking to his spot next to her as if the arguing girls didn't exist. Shino was a mystery to Naruko. She knew his clan used insects to fight, but that was all she knew about him, and they had sat next to each-other ever since she started the Academy.

Eventually, everyone showed up, and the new sensei cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Okay, here's how this year's teams are going to be: Team One ..." Naruko zoned out as he started naming people one by one into teams of three. She had almost fallen asleep when she suddenly heard her name.

"Team Seven will be: Uzumaki Naruko," everyone jerked their heads towards her, not having noticed her before, "Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke." There was an ear-splitting squeal as Sakura celebrated the fact that she was on the same team as "her Sasuke-kun".

There was a few seconds of silence as the chunin recovered from temporary hearing loss. "Okay then ... *coughs* Anyway ... Team Eight will be: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Team Nine is still active from last year's graduation. Team Ten will be: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. all right, that's is. Wait here for your jonin sensei who should be here any minute."

As he left, the first of the jonin arrived for ther teams. Over the next half-hour, the teams all left one by one until Team Seven was the last team in the room. Eventually an hour passed, then two, then three, until Sakura finally lost it.

"WHAT THE HELL IS TAKING SO LONG!?" she screeched, nearly bursting the other two's eardrums with the high pitch her voice took. "Why is _Sasuke-kun_ the one who has the worst sensei? He deserves the best!"

Naruko just looked at her and sighed. Sakura took her obsession of Sasuke to higher levels then any sane person would. _Then again,_ she thought,_ no sane person would obsess over someone just because of their looks anyway._

Hearing her sigh, Sakura turned her ire on Naruko. " What, do you have something to say? Oh, that's right, you _never_ have anything to say! You just sit there quietly while everyone else kill themselves. It's your fault Iruka-sensei died!"_  
_

That last remark caused Naruko to snap. She could take the insult, she heas much worse walking home, but she wouldn't tolerate this _bitch_ blaming her for Iruka's death. Before Pinkie could react, Naruko had pressed Sakura up against the wall with a kunai at her throat. She looked into Pinkie's eyes and saw complete and utter _fear_ in them. Before anything else happened, the door slid open revealing a jonin with a headband covering his left eye and a mask covering his face._  
_

"Hello. Soy I'm ... late ..." He trailed off, taking in the scene before him. All three genin turned to look at him. "Well, I can see we are already starting to get to know one another. Let's just calmly put down the weapon, and all three of us will talk on the roof, okay?" Receiving two nods, he turned to Naruko, looking at her expectantly. Reluctantly nodding she slowly pulled away and walked out of the room, brushing past the jonin. _I can already tell that this batch is going to be a handful,_ he thought as the other two left.

* * *

On the roof of the school, the genin sat across from Kakashi, with Naruko a little ways away from the other two.

"Okay, let's begin with some introductions. I'll start. *Ahem* My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like a lot of things. I also dislike some things. My hobbies ... You don't need to know that. My goal in life ... well, you don't need to know that, either."

The three genin each had the same thought. _He only told us his name._

"Alright you next," he said, pointing at Sakura.

"Okay. My name is Haruno Sakura. I like ..." she looked at Sasuke and giggled. "My hobbies are ..." Giggles. "And my goal in life is ..." Squeal and more giggles."

"And your dislikes ..." prompted Kakashi.

"Naruko!" she shouted, face angry.

"... Okay ... Now, you next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have any likes. I dislike people who aren't worthy of my time. I don't have "hobbies", and my goal is to kill a certain man."

Silence, Kakashi studied him while Sakura

"Intersting. And last, but not least ..."

"..." Naruko just sat there, staring at him, and he stared back.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei? She doesn't talk. Ever."

"... I see ... Okay then, tomorrow morning, meet at training ground three, at six o'clock. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, or you'll puke."

With that, he left them to their preparations for the next day.

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**AN: Okay, I think I'll end this here. Next chapter should have the infamous "Bell Test". Should be fun**

**Anyway, please leave a review. If you like it, not, if you want to throw it into the volcano from which it came, doesn't matter to me. I should have the next chapter sometime within the next week.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: And I'm back!**

**I want to clear a few things up for people. The reviews calling for blood, don't worry, the rapists will get their's. Remember, they were fully trained ninja while she was six, and she hasn't spoken to accuse them, so there will be justice, it will just take some time.**

**Now then, on with the story!**

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**CHAPTER 3**

Naruko, knowing there would be some kind of test of their skills, arrived at the training ground an hour earlier then needed to scope out the area. The training ground was composed of a dense forest with a clearing in the center, made of a single tree on a small hill, a large river, and the Memorial Stone.

She looked sadly at the Stone, knowing that somewhere carved on it were her parents' names. When she was four, she wanted to know who here parents were, and asked the Hokage if he knew. In response, he brought here there. He explained that it was a memorial to honor the shinobi that had died for the village. She had asked what their names were, but the Hokage said that she would know when she became a chunin.

Returning to her task, she took in the area. There were three posts in front of the lone tree, so she figured that that was where they would meet. She decided to start there and work her way around the area.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke woke up from his alarm around five-thirty in the morning. After getting ready, he made his way to the training grounds, pointedly ignoring the empty building in the Uchiha Compound. He couldn't bear to look at them any more than he had to.

It wasn't as if they offended him, it was just that it brought too much anger and pain when he thought about what his brother did to their clan.

He _hated_ his brother. He felt his brother deserved a slow, painful death for his actions. That was his reason for being a shinobi. That was why he trained to the point of exhaustion every day to unlock his sharingan to even have a _chance_ against Itachi, and he wouldn't allow anyone or anything to get in his way.

Not even Uzumaki.

To him, Uzumaki was an enigma. She didn't faun all over him like Sakura and the other fan-girls, and actually seamed to be disgusted by it. She never spoke, so you never knew what she was thinking, and he had the dealing that she was hiding something from her pears when it came to her skills. No one struggled that much at basic jutus, not even that Nara kid, and he paid less attention in class then _her._

Lost in his thoughts, he aimlessly wandered into Training Ground Three to the three posts in the center anout ten minutes before six. Figuring he was the first one there, he was surprised to see none other than Naruko down the hill at the Memorial Stone.

Wondering why she was so early, he silently watched as she stood there, staring at the stone. She was different today somehow, and it took him a couple moments to notice that her ever-present hood was down, letting her blonde hair flow freely down to her shoulders.

Distracted as he was, he didn't notice the annoying pink blur until it was too late.

"Sasuke-kun!" The screech nearly blowing out his eardrums, he could only brace himself for the impact as she flung herself at him.

As soon as she heard the Banshee, Naruko had snapped out of her trance and had quickly thrown up her hood, silently cursing herself for not noticing then two earlier.

Sasuke felt strangely disappointed, but crished the feeling as soon as it appeared. He was an Uchiha, he shouldn't care about what this _girl_ looked like. Ignoring whatever it was Sakura was saying, he made his way over to the posts on the hill to wait for Kakashi-sensei.

* * *

Sakura was seething. She had been happy that she had gotten on Sasuke-kun's team, but it was dulled somewhat by the fact that she was also on the same team as the _freak_.

She really hated Naruko. She never seamed to care what she looked like, and if that wasn't bad enough, she didn't see just how great Sasuke-kun was. She also hated that Naruko never spoke. What kind of freak never said anything to anyone? What was her problem?

When she got to the training ground, she immediately made her way to her Sasuke, but paused when she saw that he was watching something. Following his gaze, she couldn't help the small snarl that escaped her lips. That Naruko bitch was standing by some rock, admiring it. She couldn't have Sasuke looking at _Uzumaki, _only _she_ was the girl for Sasuke, and decided to get his attention away from the bitch.

After running over to and hugging him, Sakura started to to talk about everything she could think of, trying to keep Sasuke's attention on her instead of Naruko, and it seemed to be working, as he took one last look at her and turned away, walking toward the posts.

* * *

The three waited for hours, Sakura sitting uncomfortably close to Sasuke on the ground in front of the posts and Naruko sitting on one of the tree's branches. Finally, at around ten o'clock, Kakashi-sensei showed up.

Sakura immediately jumped up, shouting, "You're late!"

"Sorry. A black cat crossed my path-" started Kakashi, but was cut off by the Banshee.

"LIAR" she screeched, causing Sasuke, who was still right next to her, to wince in pain, clutching his ear. Naruko was just amused by their sensei's actions. She had heard about the "Copy-Cat" ninja, and thought his attitude was refreshingly funny.

"... Anyway, today, you will be having a test."

"But Sensei, we already took the Genin Test. That's why we graduated," said Sakura, stating what everyone was thinking.

"That was just a qualifying exam," Kakashi explained. "You see, not everyone from the academy become genin. This test is to root out the weaker candidates. Those who pass, become full genin. Those who fail, go back to the academy to be re-taught to try again the next year. Oh, and by the way, this test has a sixty-six percent fail rate."

Naruko covered her ears just in time to avoid the dangerous "WHAT?!" and keep her hearing intact. Inwardly, she was very nervous about this test. She had barley graduated the first time, she didn't want to have to repeat the experience.

She uncovered her ears as soon as she was sure Pinkie wasn't going to cause her to go deaf.

"The test is simple," Kakashi continued. "All you have to do is take these two bells from me." He held up two small, shiver bells on a string. "It's that simple."

"But Sensei, there are only two bells, and three of us."

"Yes. You see, the one who doesn't get a bell, gets tied to one of these posts, without lunch, and fails.

"You have until noon once I start this timer. Be warned, if you don't come at me with the intention to kill, you will fail," he finished, holding out a clock.

"And ... Go," he said, starting the timer, and the three immediately scattered into the forest around the clearing.

* * *

Naruko crouched on a branch near the clearing, watching Kakashi, her mind working on a plan to get the bells.

Openly fighting him would be suicide. He may not act like it, but as a jonin, he could take on the three of them all at once if he wanted to and hardly break a sweat. She was no slouch, but she also wasn't arrogant enough to believe she could beat him alone.

Then it clicked. The two bells, the three genin, _wanted_ them to turn against each other. She smirked as an idea came to her head.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura was walking along the path, shouting for her Sasuke. After a few minutes, she saw a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye.

"Sasuke-kun!" she shouted, happy to have finally found him. That is until she saw the condition he was in.

The boy was pinned to a tree, kunai embedded deep into his arms and legs, multiple shuriken sticking out of his stomach.

" ... Sa ... kura ..." he rasped, coughing up some blood, adding to what had already pooled on the grass under him. "Help ... me ... Sakura."

Sakura just stood there, frozen, staring in horror at her love bleeding to death in front of her eyes. Losing it, she screamed and fainted right on the spot.

Kakashi shook his Hearn disappointment. He didn't expect her to fall for the genjutsu so easily. "Oh well, hopefully the other two will be more impressive."

* * *

Kakashi was leaning up against the tree, reading from his "Icha Icha Paradise" when he suddenly had to jump to the side and dodge a kunai thrown his direction. Turning, he saw the Uchiha standing about twenty feet in front of him.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Where's the rest of your team?"

"I don't need them. They'll just slow me down." Kakashi sighed, it seems that this Uchiha would be as arrogant as most of his clan.

Suddenly, Sasuke rushed the jonin, swinging a kick at his head. Kakashi blocked it with his arm, grabbing his leg to hold him in place. Sasuke's other leg flew towards Kakashi's gut, but the jonin grabbed that to. Gathering his strength, he threw the Uchiha heir away from himself.

Sasuke twisted in the air to land on his feet, sliding a couple of yards backward. Standing, he went through a couple hand-signs, ending with the tiger sign.

**"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"** A large ball of fire flew towards the jonin, who had since put his book back into his pouch, surprised at the Uchiha's strength.

Sasuke watched as the fire engulfed the ninja, not fooled for even a second that he had actually gotten him.

Sure enough, when the fire disappeared, the jonin was nowhere to be seen. After a couple of seconds of furtively looking around, a hand popped of the ground, grabbing his ankle and pulling him down to his neck.

"Always hide where they least expect you," said Kakashi, popping out of the ground.

A little ways away in a tree, Sasuke and Naruko crouched wathing the scene play out. Naruko turned to Sasuke and gave the signal, causing him to smirk and jump out of the cover, simultaneously dispelling the shadowclone and throwing a barrage of shuriken.

Kakashi was in the middle of a lecture when his pupil disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_What!? Shunshin? No, it can't be, he's not that advanced, is he? _He suddenly had to dodge a large group of shuriken and kunai, most passing him by as he moved out of the way. He now stood in front of the river, facing Naruko and Sasuke, who stood side by side, the first holding two kunai and the second in an advanced taijutsu stance.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Here he stood, surrounded by kunai and shuriken, back to a river, with his students working as a team to take him down. He couldn't be prouder. But they still hadn't gotten the bells.

He was about to speak, when the river behind him erupted, revealing ten more Narukos and Sasukes, each throwing more projectiles at him.

_What!?_ he thought, dodging the very real weapons. _I knew Naruko knew the Kage Bunshin, but _Sasuke!?

Getting ready to fight the new opponents, he was surprised once again as every single kunai and shuriken erupted into smoke, turning into even _more_ clones.

They all rushed in at once, Kakashi barley keeping them away from the bells. This was especialy tedious, as when the original clone threw their weapons, they turned into new clones, adding to the onslaught.

He was struggling against the clones when he felt the bells being disturbed. He turned his head to see one of the Narukos pulling at the strings. He shot out his foot, hitting her square in the face, dispelling the clone.

Suddenly, all of the clones dispelled. He looked around confused, then at the bells, only to see them poof into smoke. He looked back at his students, each of them holding a bell in their finger. He smiled. He had a feeling that they would make great ninja.

* * *

Sakura woke up groggily. She wondered where she was for a few moments as her mind started working, and looked up sharply as she remembered the last thing that had happened to her.

"Sasuke-kun!"

The rest of her team wasn't expecting the sudden screech, and all jumped when their ears nearly turned inside-out.

"Calm down, Sakura, Sasuke is fine. It was just a genjutsu," explained Kakashi, being the first one to recover.

She looked around, confused, then spotted her Sasuke-kun. She tried to run toward him, but found she couldn't move. Looking down, she noticed that she was tied to a post, and that the others had their lunches.

"B-b-but ..." She sputtered, not able to make a full sentence as the realization dawned on her.

"By the way," Kakashi said, gaining the attention back, "you pass."

Sakura was confused. Why was she passed? She didn't get a bell. Kakashi, seeing he confused look, started to explain.

"The goal of this test, as your two teammates were able to figure out, was _teamwork_. In the history of Konoha, ever since it was founded, there have never been any genin teams with less then three people. The reason there were two bells, was to test your teamwork against a factor that would break it. It was to teach you how to deal with real life situations. For instance ..." he grabbed Sasuke by the hair, pulling his head back, and put a kunai to his throat, " Naruko! Kill Sakura or Sasuke dies!"

Naruko looked at Kakashi, shrugged, pulled out her own kunai, and started walking towards Sakura, who nearly wet herself at the cold smile on Naruko's face.

Seeing as she would do it, and a little unerved by the fact, Kakashi let go of Sasuke, who glared at him, and went to stop Naruko.

Pulling her back, and missing the slightly disappointed look on her face, he continued.

"You may very we'll encounter these kinds of things on a mission, and your decision could decide if your team lives or dies. Now, Sakura, I'm letting you pass on one condition: you need to get stronger. A konoichi needs to be as strong as any shinobi, and you have a long way to go to catch up to your teammates. Now, Sasuke, I believe you were about to tell me how you learned the Kage Bunshin."

"Naruko," he answered simply.

Turning to Naruko, he just got a shrug in response.

"Well, I'm impressed. Not many chunin can create a shadow clone, let alone a rookie genin." Standing up, he said, "All right, that will be all for today. Tomorrow, you will start your first mission. Oh, and Naruko, Hokage-sama said he would like to speak to you after your training."

With that, the team dispersed, with Sasuke and Naruko heading to the village, leaving Kakashi to untie his remaining student.

* * *

** AN: Alright it's finally done! That one was longer than the other chapters, I do think. What does the Hokage want? How does Sasuke know the Shadow clone? Why am I asking you?**

** Anyway, next there will be a talk, some missions, some filler, and the beginning of the Wave Arc if I'm lucky. Should update within the next week. Other then that, thank you for reading, please, don't be afraid to leave a review, and I'll see you next time.**


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